Anti-Money Laundering – Update

The second draft of the proposed rules have now been released, with
much of the content having been expected. The big change, though, is to
the identification procedures. From my reading of the rules, the scope
of s38 has been limited. s38 is the one that allows third party
identification – for example one bank carries out an identification
procedure and another bank can rely on that procedure.

This has been limited in scope to situations where the
second bank is part of the same banking group as the first – a
significant change. I would expect some of the smaller or more internet
based banks to hit the roof over this one, as it plays into the hands of
the larger banks with a strong branch network.

The bill containing the amendments is largely as expected, so no real excitement there.

The policy statement from AUSTRAC shows that they will be becoming a
proper regulator, with the (seeming) power to exercise strong discretion
over whether to prosecute, based solely on statements they have made to
the regulated entity. I will, therefore, include them in the sidebar
links from now on as a regulator.

I will have a friend at the seminar that KPMG Perth is holding with
the Minister and a couple of his people next Friday, so I may have some
further information on this later. If there are any interesting
responses I will come b